520 Toll?

Will it make you change your drive/commute to work or else where? Wondering what people think.

I am of the mindset of if it costs me $5.60 a day for less traffic.....fantastic!

Wait, what? They are tolling 520 now? This is the 1st I've heard of it.

I rarely go to the Eastside so no impact to me.

I did LOL on the news this am when a viewer wrote: If I am in a rental car, what do I do? SDOT response: Phone the WDOT 2 weeks in advance with your rental cars license plate number and prepay.

So out of touch with reality...

danielj said:

Wait, what? They are tolling 520 now? This is the 1st I've heard of it.

I rarely go to the Eastside so no impact to me.

I did LOL on the news this am when a viewer wrote: If I am in a rental car, what do I do? SDOT response: Phone the WDOT 2 weeks in advance with your rental cars license plate number and prepay.

So out of touch with reality...

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:w00t:

Drove over on 520 this morning for the first time since they started the tolling. Traffic was very very light like on an early weekend morning.

As for Rental cars, I am sure that they have the tolling decals and they will bill you directly.

HAH they need to do this on 405 maybe so people can take another route

This morning at 645am the worst part was the people trying to get off on the last exit prior to the bridge...it was actually backed way up onto 520.......after that was clear sailing....curious to see about tonight when I head home around 5pm

Rocotoll, are you talking about going Eastbound and ppl getting off at the Montlake Exit? It was the same way at 9am. I just thought the traffic was b/c school had started at UW.

SeaDsl said:

Rocotoll, are you talking about going Eastbound and ppl getting off at the Montlake Exit? It was the same way at 9am. I just thought the traffic was b/c school had started at UW.

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Yeah....but I didn't think 645am would cause that for class exits. I never saw that before the break....

Charging as much as they do is plain stupid...in this economy. Charge $5 for 10 people to cross the road or .50 for 100...still get the same amount of money, but reduce congestion on all other roads, also reduce additional damage done to the other roads. This is economics 101, and I doubt anyone in DOT department took that class.

I really hope that they fail miserably with this tolling scheme where they essentially force people to either be stuck in traffic for hours or shell out almost $2k a year for tolls. It's not much if you are earning good money and have $2k to spare, but others are not as fortunate and have to suffer. There's a talk that if 520 doesn't bring in enough revenue, they will toll I90 as well. Personally I will have to choose between taking the streets or finding another job because with my current financial situation I would have to choose between eating this week or paying the toll. They offer aid, but if they are just like any other government agency, their income ceiling is probably about 24K for a family of 4...this figure was probably very accurate in 1960.

So as you can tell I am not a fan of this tolling. At least not at the moment when so many people are struggling and willing to take any job, any pay, anywhere they can. Bad timing...but doubt they care. :iono:

I used to drive the bridge every day. I don't live there anymore... but would be solidly PISSED OFF if I had to deal with this.

I wonder how the people in Bothell and Kenmore and Lake City like all the increased traffic from people coming around the north side of the lake from the east side?

I'm sure the people on Mercer Island and Bellevue are just stoked about the increase in traffic on I90.

I have lived in Seattle for the last 3+ years (commuting to the E side for work each day) and was kind of annoyed when this tolling started. Personally, I've started taking the bus most days. I figure if I have to drive once or twice a week, that is okay, but the bus is going to be my main mode of transportation. ST has at least been good in increasing the number of buses and adding routes before the tolling (542 which helps me since I'm in Wallingford).

As for the toll rate, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I lived in Chicago for 20 years where they toll you three times on a single road. Today, these tolls are at least $1, and sometimes more. I think $3.50 is a lot for just a bridge, but for people like me that drive 90% of the road, it is not that bad. I do think that if they spread out the toll a little (i.e. they tolled $1 in 3 places), the funds would be more evenly distributed to people who use the road on just the E side or people who only go over the bridge and get off at an early exit. However, the point of the toll is to pay for the new bridge, so perhaps that is why there is only one tolling spot.

I do think the traffic is incredibly light these mornings - to the point where I'm not sure enough cars are crossing the bridge to make their total revenues add up to the targets. I feel if they don't see some sort of back swing to people driving and paying the toll, they might find the tolling rates to be too high.

Charge $5 for 10 people to cross the road or .50 for 100...still get the same amount of money

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To this point, you might get 200 people willing to pay $0.50, increasing the total revenues...

As for now, I'm glad most of my commutes take < 20 minutes! Also, I get a chance to open up my car on the way in in the morning, which is a great feeling :thumbup:

They replaced one of the HOV lanes in Atlanta with a toll lane. People are not using it. This lane was already paid for and there is a huge outcry at being charged to use what taxpayer money has already paid for.

With luck some of these idiots that thought it was a good idea will be out of a job in Nov.

GeorgiaBII said:

With luck some of these idiots that thought it was a good idea will be out of a job in Nov.

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Nope...this state is like Nevada: everyone bitches about the government, but when the time comes to vote, they all vote same people back into the office. With the track record of the officials here I doubt they will say "let decrease the toll", instead they will say "let's toll the other roads same amount" or "lets increase the toll on 520". It's retarded, but that's what they've done...instead of being more efficient, they add more taxes to compensate of lack of efficiency. If this state was a business, it would fail within it's first year. Not saying other states are that much better, but I do think that sometimes less is more...even when it comes to taxes and tolls.